Well I received my cable today and did some coding already. If you're interested in coding yourself, read on

This DIY is intended for F-series BMW's alone. I'm sorry but I just received word the E-series work in a complete different way that the F-series. The E-series us INPA and NCS Expert to do their coding. This requires a different cable as well. The E-series needs to communicate with a CAN network, where as we are talking across a TCP/IP enabled network with the F-series. For the E-series, please see this thread: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=451145 and in particular, this post: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...8&postcount=15

What you need
- An ENET cable.
- E-Sys program, datafiles, token and PIN
- A laptop (a PC would work too but it wouldn't be comfortable in most cases lol)

Now, you could go overboard and get a power supply cable for constant supply to your car but if you minimize your coding sessions to 30 minutes and have your car running for at least 15 minutes in between, it should go a long way. Also, it's advisable to do the browsing in the code offline and only do the coding while being in your car (more about this later on).

ENET Cable
There are basically two ways to get the ENET cable. You can buy a complete cable, or you can simply build one.

If you are not interested in building one and want to spend a little bit more money to get a working cable, then this is a site that has been confirmed working by some of our F10 friends: http://codecard.lt/electronics/tools.../prod_651.html ..I wouldn't recommend other sites, although they may work, problem is that they have not been confirmed working yet.

-> You can also buy a cable from ImSW1, a fellow coder and he's also the one from who I, indirectly, received my own cable. His cables are great. He builds and ships them for $25 USD. Usually, after he receives payment, he can have the cable ship the next day and arrive with you only two days later (that's for the 48 contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii might take a few days longer due to the distance (cost stays the same due to it being shipped flat rate with USPS)).

The other way is to build a cable yourself. Cost for this would probably range anywhere between 10 to 20 bucks. You will need to solder a bit but it's nothing too serious if you follow the instructions to the letter.

If you cannot find the OBD2 connector, please look on ebay. A lot of the connectors are being sold there.

E-Sys program, datafiles and such
I currently work with E-Sys v3.18.4 in combination with the v46.3 datafiles, which work like a charm for me. I have read reports about newer builds but also read about a lot of install problems and such with those builds so it seems best to stick with these for now.

You can find the link to E-Sys in this text file:
*** Link removed, see below ***

For the datafiles, please download this text file for all links (24 in total):
*** Link removed, see below ***

Little advice regarding the datafiles: It is over 10GB in total and rapidshare is VERY slow. Unless you like to spend hours and hours to download it all, I recommend buying a one-time PRO account for 10 bucks. Most of the people (including me) did this and it makes a LOT of different (up 3 hrs versus 10 minutes per file).

For installation on how to install these files, please the attached PDF file called "E-Sys Installation.pdf"

Programming Versions vs. Vehicle Data StatusHere is a worksheet that covers what data set (psdzdata) lines up with what chassis code (for example, the F30 lines up with the F020 datasets).

Getting Started
Please see the 'E-Sys - Getting Started' PDF files below at the attached files to get started with coding. These are the same files I used the first time to code and should be self explanatory, just follow everything like they state there and you'll be ok (of course, where they talk about the F10/F010, please change that into F30/F020 respectively).

Making a Back Up
It's quite easy to make a backup of the CAF files from your car. Basically, as soon as you start reading the CAF files from your car, the E-Sys program automatically stores the files into "C:\ESysData\CAF". All you basically need to do is to copy these files and store them somewhere safe. The best is to make a new copy (and keep the old!) every time you want to code, this way you always have a copy of the last working version (just in case you break something lol).

Here are the instructions that were given to me the first time around:

Quote:

1) Connect the Laptop to Car and hit the Connect synbol on the top left.

2) Pop up will appear , now select F20 not "F020 direct" and click connect (You should see your car VIN in this pop if not, close the pop up.. wait for few seconds and repeat the step 2 )

3) If step 2 is successfull you will see a small po up telling the same ...close that pop up (You will see these pop ups in most of the steps just read and close).

4) Now esys should switch to coding mode (if it didnt then go to expert mode and click on coding icon on the left vertical pane)

5) Now you will be in coding prespective... Click on Read button under the VO pane.

6) After step 6 you will see FA appearing in the VO pane

7) Now Click on Read VCM or Read button under VCM pane....you will find it it will be on your Right hand-Center

8) Once you click that you will see all the ECU's populated below VO pane and left of VCM pane

9) Now expand the ECU's... all most all ECU's will have a file starting with CAF (With green indicator) right click on the CAF file and select Read coding data

10) You have to do the step for all the ECU's. Some ECU's will not have CAF's, you can ignore them.

11) Easier way to perform step 9 and 10 : on your left hand side bottom there will be a drop down which should show "ALL" change that to "CAF" and you should see all the CAF's in the ECU pane now you dont have to dig in each ECU to find the CAF.

Note: You can use Ctrl+Click to select more than one CAF and then read coding data... Dont click on all the CAF's just do four or five at at time max.

12) Once you have complete reading all the CAF's go to c:/esydata/CAF . You will see the folder CAF has all the .ncd files generated.

Once you have done the above, simply copy those .ncd files and store them somewhere safe.

Cheat Sheet
You can download the F30 cheat sheet with things I have done so far below at the attached files. The cheat sheet is called "F30_Cheat_Sheet_XXXXXXXX.pdf", where the X's are is basically the date I updated the cheat sheet (year,month,day).

Please also see a more complete cheat sheet for the F10 below at the attached files to get a general idea of it all.

Please note that the F10 coding is slightly off from the F30, meaning some of the functions are named different or located in different named modules and, of course, some things are not available to the F30 (such as the automated trunk closing). Just use the F10 cheat sheet for the F30 to get an idea, to see what might be possible and such.

The rest...
These things have been coded and confirmed working by me so far:

Little note: after coding someone else's F30 tonight (6/7/12), I noticed that some of the modules might have a slightly different name. The functions were still named the same, just the module name was a little bit off.

Even more...
I added some more files that I just picked up elsewhere that might be of help:

Anyways, bottom line is that the coding for the F series works. Instead of paying 155-170 USD for Video in Motion, it only cost me the cost for a cable (which you can make yourself, the cost for that could be anywhere from 7-20 dollar).

(For those living in Hawaii who need help coding their F10 or F30, or help with the install, just send me a PM and perhaps I can help you out (I wont charge but you will have to come to me, and everything I do is done at your own risk, of course.)).

Disclaimer: coding is pretty simple to do, but it's also very simple to brick your car if you make mistakes or by other unexpected circumstances.. everything you do on your car with coding, like with everything else, is all done at your own risk. Also please keep in mind that I am doing this for educational purposes only and that I am not making any money out of it.

Credit and thanks goes out to Shawn, Andy, Sean and DreamCar. They have helped me in many ways to get this far! Without them, I wouldn't be able to show you guys all this

I'm sorry guys, due to some recent developments I figured it would be safer to remove the actual links to both e-sys and the datafiles from this post.

Wow, this looks appealing to me. Although I wouldn't touch my car, I will still be quite interested in learning the details.

Can you change the operating parameters of the engine control as well?

To be honest, I'm truly amazed of how many parameters can be changed. So many parameters I will probably never even touch since I don't want to mess up the engine and such but, yes, I have seen a LOT of parameters and functions that indicate we should be able to do a lot to our cars.. it really covers everything of the car, the engine, safety issues, electronics.. it's really amazing

To be honest, I'm truly amazed of how many parameters can be changed. So many parameters I will probably never even touch since I don't want to mess up the engine and such but, yes, I have seen a LOT of parameters and functions that indicate we should be able to do a lot to our cars.. it really covers everything of the car, the engine, safety issues, electronics.. it's really amazing

So it is basically not coding but rather changing of data that is used by the software.

I don't think the mods would mind if you share coding info. Heck, it might even be stickied in the DIY section =)

+1

+2!
Interesting stuff! A no-go for me but interesting none the less! Looking forward to perusing your PDF! I like the Surround View always on one - wonder if the same can be done for the Rear Reversing Camera...

noob question...does coding void your warranty?
once I get my f30..would love to code the side view cameras to be on at all speeds, though I wouldn't begin to know how to do it myself. Will have to find someone to do it for me..hmm...needle in a haystack moment.

I'll try to have some instructions and PDF with the confirmed coding I did online somewhere tomorrow

@Mith: Technically anything you mod could void warranty. However, if you mod the camera and your engine breaks down, then the mod to the camera would not void your engine's warranty. Also, they need to proof that your mod actually caused the engine to break down if they try to claim that your warranty is void due to a certain mod (of course, where I say mod, you could say code but technically a chance in code is a bit of a mod).

One thing that might be good advice is to keep backups of every chance you make so you can always revert to the last update (or original even) in case something seems to be wrong

I coded my E92 for a lot of cool functions and I'm looking forward to seeing how similar to modules are for the F30. Like svache said, it's not really "coding" per se, just changing option values. As long as you're diligent in backing up the previous settings and documenting your changes, it's a pretty easy operation.

I'll try to have some instructions and PDF with the confirmed coding I did online somewhere tomorrow

@Mith: Technically anything you mod could void warranty. However, if you mod the camera and your engine breaks down, then the mod to the camera would not void your engine's warranty. Also, they need to proof that your mod actually caused the engine to break down if they try to claim that your warranty is void due to a certain mod (of course, where I say mod, you could say code but technically a chance in code is a bit of a mod).

One thing that might be good advice is to keep backups of every chance you make so you can always revert to the last update (or original even) in case something seems to be wrong

I am strongly considering ordering a 2013 335i without premium pkg so I can avoid having a sunroof (tall person) but I will miss not having comfort access. Can these feature be turned on by coding?

On a similar line, since sat radio is also part of premium package, is there a way to "activate" it too - at dealer or any other way?

Regarding the comfort access, you will be able to enable it BUT, and this is the kicker, you need those special door handles with those sensors build in it and from what I know, you don't have them if you don't buy the premium pkg.

Sat is also a bit of a thing, if your car is equipped with a sat radio (which might be different of those who didn't order it, I don't know about this) then it still needs to be activated over the internet on the Sirius XM website (at least here in the US). So you might be able to chance settings, actually activating it but not buying it is probably going to be hard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAnderson23

Nice, I look forward to seeing your results. I'm especially interested in getting the mirrors to automatically fold in when turning off the car.

You're in luck, it's one of the things I'm searching for. I either want it automatically fold when the engine is turned off or when it gets locked. So far I was able to find the codes to do this with the keyfob (similar as they do with the F10 but it's located in a complete different spot).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raspartan

Very cool svache! Where did you get the software?

There are a lot of little things that would be nice to change, and I'm certain these could be done via coding.

I will post the location of the software and all that in some links soon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elk

Svache, are you able to save the original file and/or the changes to a file?

I am interested only in ECU modifications and they are too much work if one cannot readily save changes.

I am trying to think of other things people complain about . . . can you turn off the headlight washers or in any fashion control when they activate?

The beauty of the e-sys program is that it automatically stores the current code as soon as you read it from the car (this is probably done so you can browse through the settings offline without draining the battery, which is a good thing since it does drain your car's battery, the actual coding doesn't have to take much longer than a couple of minutes once you know where to find the values to change). Once the code has been read and thus stored on your drive, you only need to copy and paste the code elsewhere before changing any values and store it in a different location.

What I did is, I have my original file stored in a few locations on different drives so I always have the original somewhere. The other successful changes I make will be stored in different maps.. think of the maps in a backup folder now being created as 2012-05-25.001 2012-05-25.002 2012-05-26.001 etc.

Regarding the headlight washers, you're in luck as well.. I found several settings for what I believe is the headlight washers (I am unsure, my German isn't that great lol, so I will have to test it). If I am right, you can chance settings like: the maximum speed to which the washers will respond (so if you do want the washers but don't like the spray all over the place, you can set it to a low value so it only sprays below a certain speed), the interval amount, turn it on and off as a whole etc. etc.

Ok, for those interested, I updated the first post with a DIY.. I hope everything works out for everyone.. if not, please ask in this thread instead of PM so others who have the same problem might get helped as well)